Abstract: Disclosed is a tool for use with brake pistons and the like having a generally cylindrical body with a working face at one end of the body member which has an area and configuration corresponding to the face of the piston. The piston has one or more shall depressions therein which are normally unsuitable for use with conventional tools. The characterizing feature of the tool is a rim extending outwardly from the working face and surrounding it. When the tool is placed over the face of the piston, the rim grips the perimeter of the piston. A pin extending outwardly from the working surface is aligned with the deepest depression when the tool is placed over the face of the piston. The rim and pin coact to rotate the piston upon rotation of the tool.

Abstract: There is disclosed a form liner having a thickness no greater than 0.5 inch and having planar dimensions of approximately 2 feet by 4 feet, with one of its planar surfaces having a molded negative impression of a desirable surface relief pattern for a concrete wall. The form liner is manufactured by processing pre-formed sheets or panels of expanded plastic foam, typically expanded polystyrene foam. These stock panels are obtained in approximately 3/8 inch thickness and a positive pattern of the desired relief is pressed into the panel under sufficient heat, about 200 degrees F. and pressure, about 2500 psi, to mold one of the smooth surfaces of the panel into a negative impression of the desired surface relief pattern. The molding can be accomplished in a standard compression equipment with cycle times of approximately ten seconds. This permits the inexpensive and facile manufacture of these panels at sites removed from the polystyrene foam expander plant.

Abstract: There is disclosed a ball having a foraminous outer shell with an inner membrane which forms an interior closure within the outer shell and with a timer and a release mechanism operative to open the inner membrane and release its contents after the time on the timer expires. The contents spill through the foraminous outer shell, wetting the player who is handling or catching the ball at the moment of release. The timer is activated and the ball is used in a game in which it is tossed between participants who seek to avoid becoming wet when the timer releases the water from the interior closure of the ball.

Abstract: There is disclosed an inflatable inner sole for a shoe or boot which is formed of upper and lower plastic sheets having the shape and size of a sole and bonded together in a continuous seam about their peripheral edges thereby forming a sealed interior. A plurality of this continuous seams are formed between the upper and lower sheets to create within the sealed interior a plurality of interconnecting tubular passageways. The inflatable inner sole is provided with an air pump that preferably is mounted at the heel of the inner sole. The air pump is a flexible bulb with an inlet valve and discharges into a flexible tube which extends to a pressure control valve and then to the interior chamber of the inflatable inner sole. The pressure relief valve is manually adjustable to control the pressure within the inflatable inner sole.

Abstract: There is disclosed a self-luminous source of light preferably as applied to illuminated signs and safety markers which emits a high level of uniform light. The invention utilizes a beta emitter, preferably tritium gas, which is contained within a sealed glass enclosure having an interior coating of a phosphor. The glass enclosure is contained within an outer enclosure formed of a plastic filled with a fluorescent dye. The phosphor coating on the glass enclosure of the tritium gas absorbs beta radiation from the tritium and emits radiation in a wavelength approximately 360 nanometers which excites the fluorescent dye in the plastic outer enclosure.

Abstract: An eyeglass structure having frame means interconnecting left and right ocular frames to support respective ocular lenses with upper frame edges and with laterally supported and pivotally attached temples. The improvement in the frontal support comprises at least one support post extending upwardly and rearwardly from the eyeglass structure. A frontal support member is carried on the upper end of the support post and is the only frontal support to carry the weight of the eyeglass structure.

Abstract: A animal waste collection device consists of a scoop for picking up refuse, a handle to which the scoop is affixed for manipulation of the device and a removably attached refuse container carried by the handle. The refuse container can be attached and removed without touching the scoop of the device. The handle comprises at least two segments which are connected at their corresponding ends for full extension during manipulation of the device and which can be folded or disconnected in order to shorten the handle for storing the device. The lower end of the handle section to which the scoop portion is attached is adapted to removably attach a refuse bag for receiving the collected refuse.

Abstract: A method is disclosed for etching glass surfaces, particularly the windows of vehicles, which includes the steps of preparing a graphic image including a bar code; transferring the image to a tissue stencil by means of a plurality of cylindrical rods; applying the stencil over a glass surface to be etched; applying an etchant in a defined pattern across the rear surface of the stencil; applying a nearly uniform pressure to the etchant to distribute the etchant over the rear surface of the stencil and to force it through the impressions in the stencil to etch the image onto the glass surface and removing the stencil and residue left on the surface being etched leaving the image etched in the surface of the glass. The etched image is read by a CCD scanner to recover the information represented by the bar code.

Abstract: There is disclosed a food steamer having a food tray with a stepped sidewall to provide a subjacent section of lesser cross-sectional area than its upper section. An internal cover is received within the upper section of the food tray and it is slidably received against the interior sidewalls of the upper section permitting adjustment of its level in the upper section whereby the volume of the food compartment beneath the internal cover can be fixedly adjusted. The steaming vessel also has an exterior cover that has a top plate with a peripheral downwardly dependent side walls which are received within the open upper edges of the food tray. In the preferred embodiment, the slidably adjustable internal cover is formed with an outer rigid frame to which is removably attached to a plastic or aluminum film permitting replacement and disposal of the film after use.

Abstract: An outdoor game for a plurality of players who on a novel game mat having a flat playing surface which bears a plurality of position-identifying indicia. The mat also has a water distributor and a plurality of water spray orifices which are located at preselected positions on the surface of the game mat and connected to the water distributor whereby application of water under pressure to the water distributor forms a plurality of vertical water sprays about the playing surface. In the game, players call out particular commands to each other which are spontaneous or can be selected from randomly stacked game cards and which require the responding player to touch the location of the particular indicium on the mat, and to remain in contact with all previously identified indicia during the remainder of the play. The objective of the play is to disqualify players by causing an opposing player to become so tangled up as to fall, or to render performance of a command without falling impossible.

Abstract: An inhibitor composition of sodium hexametaphosphate and a water soluble orthophosphate, together with a pH adjusting, water-soluble alkali, effectively prevents corrosion of metal surfaces by sodium chloride brines. This corrosion inhibitor can be used to prevent corrosion of motor vehicles and steel reinforcing members and structures by brines formed by roadway deicing salt.

Abstract: Disclosed is a control unit for welding apparatus which feeds wire in the presence of a shielding gas to a workpiece at different rates with different heat inputs in accordance with the wire feed rate. The control unit is designed so that through a single control element the workman may adjust the wire feed rate and simultaneously and automatically adjust the heat input. When different wire types are employed in different welding processes, adjustments in the control unit are provided that allow the workman to reset the relationship between the wire feed rate and heat input in accordance with the type of wire being used. A hot-start feature is provided so that more power is applied for a predetermined manually adjusted time period during start-up.

Abstract: There is disclosed a latch mechanism for locking the drawers of items of furniture such as desks and file cabinets. The latch mechanism is manufactured of plastics using injection molding techniques. The mechanism includes an open sided housing having a oppositely directed pair of mounting flanges which extend from the opposite sides of the housing. A longitudinal slot is formed between the flange members and this slot slidably receives the latch member. The cavity of the housing receives a compression spring which protrudes from the open side of the cavity and is received in an aligned slot or through aperture of the latch member. The latch member has a forward and inclined ramp that is mounted opposite and adjacent to the upper cam post of a vertical slide member. The vertical slide member is received in a groove in a upright standard of the furniture, typically in a partition located between the center drawer and a vertically stacked set of lateral drawers of a desk.

Abstract: A tissue staining cassette includes a container for reagent, a slide retainer for securing a plurality of slides and for suspending the slides in reagent in the container with tissue specimens immersed in the reagent. The slide retainer consists of an open ended cylindrical body having channel containing inserts disposed in the body with the channels opposed for receiving the edges of slides. Depending spring arms corresponding to each of the channels are affixed in the cylindrical body and the end of each spring arm extends into its respective channel. As slides are inserted into the channels the spring arm is displaced and responsive to the displacement the slide is clamped between the end of the spring arm and a wall of the channel. In another embodiment resilient wall members extend across the bore of the slide retainer body to divide the bore of the retainer body into slide receiving areas corresponding to the opposed channels.

Abstract: Disclosed is a portable, compact sun visor adapted to be placed over the rearview mirror of an automotive vehicle. The visor comprises a generally rectangular member which is opaque and had dimensions which block sunlight from directly striking the driver in the eyes as the sun enters the windshield in the area surrounding the rear view mirror. The member is opaque and has a slot and hinge disposed along the central latitudinal axis of the member, enabling the member to be folded about the hinge and divided into two sections which are mirror images of each other. When unfolded and placed over the arm of the rearview mirror, the sun visor is balanced and blocks light entering the windshield in the vicinity of the rearview mirror.

Abstract: The invention relates to the manufacture of a violin (and other instruments of the violin family), in which the component parts of the acoustic box are made from sheet material. The sheet material is composed of substantially unidirectionally oriented man-made fibres, for example of carbon or boron, set in a matrix of epoxy resin. Thus the fibres are substantially all aligned from end to end in the front plate and in the back plate, we well as in the lengths of the side pieces and bass bar. Using this alignment of fibres that have a high modulus of elaticity, coupled with relatively low specific gravity and low flexural friction in vibration, a design for an instrument's acoustic box is specified which provides for instruments having vibrational systems, similar to that found in traditional instruments, but in which, for the same loudness of sound propagated, there are substantial economies in the proportional of force inherent in a vibration that is deployed in propagating sound.